McDonald's

[mercalia]

There are all sorts of simple cheap fast healthy foods one may prepare at home
I make a big pot of lentil soup, lasts several days, good for breakfast too

what a revolting prospect. I'll stay with a Big Mac

[Vorpal]

Unfortunately, simple and quick home cooked food tends to be expensive. Food that isn't expensive takes longer to cook, with a few exceptions. But who wants to eat pasta with cheap jars of tomato sauce every day?

Also, if you live near McD's, or use the drive through, it *is* quick. A quick as making a frozen pizza, or 'sticking something in the oven'.

I'm sorry. I have spoken before on here in defence of McDs but to say simple and quick home cooked food tends to be expensive is ridiculous. Wholemeat pasta - £1 for 500, only need 75g per portion, tin of passata-70p, tin of sweet corn, -40p and a chorizo £3. That's the whole family fed for a fiver and will take 20mins to cook - tops. McDs will cost about £5 each and if you add in the time it takes to get there and back....

I grew up in a very deprived area and take away food was ridiculously popular. Why? It's easy and maybe the people there weren't taught how to cook. The saddest thing about this was how expensive meals were nad therefore those who needed the cash most were giving it away.

I grew up in a deprived area, too. With a single parent. And my mum was very good at making good meals from frozen stuff, leftovers, soup bones, and stuff that we foraged or fished for.

But little of it was fast. As I said, there's pasta and rice, but you'd hardly eat that every day. And there were times when the equivalent of £3 on a single ingredient would have been an extravagence.

Also, my mum, being a single mother, had to come home from a long day of work, (sometimes 9 or 10 hours, plus commute), collect us from the neighbour or childminder, and cook supper. Not so easy to do when you're knackered from work. Impossible to prepare a meal that requires any significant amount of preparation, help kids with homework, put in a load of laundry, and still get kids to bed on time. We couldn't generally afford McD's but some of our neighbours with better incomes could. I'm sure the only reason we didn't eat there more often was the cost. My mother certainly didn't feel like cooking after working all day, and when we were old enough to help we did. Part of me getting pocket money was cooking once a week from the time I was about 9.

Also, when we were teens, my brother got a job a McDs, and we ate a fair amount of stuff (mostly salads and apple pies, TBH) that he brought home because they would have been thrown out, otherwise.

[ossie]

You don't need to buy a SIM card if you can find a McD.

Other places have wifi, but I'd pay €1 for a SIM and a few more for a gig of data to avoid going in one!

Perhaps stick to glamping or whatever it is you do.

No need for wifi, loo paper, a toilet, food, drink...

You remind me of the guy who kept saying every French town had a bike shop when in reality its nonsense.

[mjr]

You don't need to buy a SIM card if you can find a McD.

Other places have wifi, but I'd pay €1 for a SIM and a few more for a gig of data to avoid going in one!

Perhaps stick to glamping or whatever it is you do.

Another false dichotomy. Strange how the defenders of the golden arches resort to that fallacy so often - it's either MacD or glamping, it's MacD or takes too long, it's MacD or €50 an onion ring... all incredible!

[Oldjohnw]

Am spending a few days cycling around the Yorkshire Wolds. Never seen a Macdonalds but seen loads of discarded wrappers.

[Spinners]

Hope Rutland holds out...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-49433347

[tmac100]

Sorry to have ruffled feathers. BUT ...

I have found out the hard way that getting a SIM card in some far-off country is either very expensive (as in Canada), or fraught with bureaucratic details.

And for what???

This summer, while bicycle touring in France, we just stopped at a MacDonlds, got 2 coffees, some large wedge chips and used their wifi.

No need for a SIM card, and bureaucracy. I rest MY experience.

YMMV - and for many it does. Bravo to each journey. I'll bet your touring bicycle won't fit me, and vice-versa.

[Astrobike]

The best part about McDonald's apart from the Breakfast . is you do not even have
to go in to use the wi fi , I have used the wi fi out side several McDonald's and it did
not cost a cent not that money was an issue breakfast is only about 5 quid.

[mjr]

Buy cheap, buy twice

[Bonefishblues]

Buy cheap, buy twice

I can't eat two breakfasts

[simonhill]

My most recent Mc D was in Osaka. I had been on a ferry overnight and wanted somewhere for a relaxed breakfast before pedalling off. My usual food stops were convenience stores (7/11s etc), that sometime have a few seats and a counter to eat from. Unfortunately, I couldn't find one with seats and then a Mc D hove into view.

It was a pleasant stop. Comfortable seat that I could see my bike from (not necessary in Japan); good coffee; meal delivered to my table; wifi; washroom; etc. Unfortunately the muffin in my egg bacon cheese muffin was sweet. Ugh! Not sure if this was a mistake as I had eaten savoury muffins in other places and they weren't sweet.

Unfortunately this rather spoilt the McD experience, but nonetheless, overall it was what I wanted - somewhere to eat and rest up for half an hour or so while the sun rose and the rush hour passed.

Pragmatism v prejudice.